The Technological Man

The Technological Man

This is the age of Science & Technology. We all know how they have improved our lives & we are always looking forward to miracles they are expected to achieve tomorrow or day after. The computer and the mobile phone are the symbols of modern life. Biotechnology is expected to give us the power to control all other life forms for our benefit & provide us with all the wherewithals of life including food, fibre & medicine.
But have we ever stopped to ask the question what really are science & technology? What do they involve? Why is it that what they do appear as miracles to us? Let us try to answer these questions.

Science tries to unravel the secrets and mysteries of the universe, and enriches our knowledge of the physical & biological world. Technology is the practical manifestation of science. By applying Principles of Science, it provides us newer & newer means & tools to mould & bend the physical & biological world for the benefit of human beings. It caters to our wants & desires, increases our command over resources, thereby saving labour & providing more comforts to human beings. Therefore, it is technology that everyone is enamoured with.

How technology achieves this? that is, how it gives us greater command and control over resources? It does this by diverting & making available exclusively to human beings the natural flows of energy and materials evolved on this planet. What are these natural flows of energy and materials?

Everyone knows that energy flows to us from the Sun. Seventy percent of the energy that strikes the surface of the earth warms the planet, contributes to the movements of winds & sea water & generates the hydrological cycle. A small part of the Sun’s energy is converted by plants through photosynthesis into food on which all living beings including humans depend. Sun’s energy thus flows from plants to insects & higher animals ( herbivores & carnivores) and enables them to survive, grow, mature & carry out various movements & work. Energy is again used by decomposers to break down plant & animal waste & release nutrients stored in them so that they can be recycled in the system. Materials are then brought back into the system continuing the flows. Energy concentrated in the plants is converted over geological time into coal & oil which we increasingly use as fuels.

Nature therefore, is a wonderful system & an organization whose working depends on these flows of energy & matter. This system has evolved certain processes which ensure continuity of life on this planet. They are: the hydrological cycle which gives us rain & fresh water, the atmospheric balance which ensures a continuous supply of oxygen, the work of decomposers, which assimilates waste & assures the continuation of flows, the making & supply of soil which enables plants to survive & diversify & a pool of genetic resources embodied in various life forms whose survival and multiplication depends on these processes & who become an integral part of Nature’s organization.

Technology tinkers & interferes with this system so that more energy & materials are available to human beings. Less energy & materials are then available to other life forms, plants and animals of every hue, thereby affecting their lives & populations. They are deprived because the total flows of energy & matter on this planet are given; these can neither be created nor destroyed as laws of physics inform us.

The principal technologies through which Man interferes with energy & material flows are agriculture & industry, i.e. use of machines. Energy available to a variety of plants is diverted to a single plant by agriculture. The plant then provides ample food to human beings by taking away energy from other plants. More & more lands for agriculture means less plant variety, change in landscape, in soil chemistry, in insect & animal life, more erosion, sediment flows & creation of bare areas. If rivers & streams are used to provide irrigation to agriculture ( through dams & canals ) and power to industry, energy incorporated in rivers & streams which provides wherewithals to a number of riverine plants, animals, fish etc. is diverted to ensure survival of a few plants. The change in river flows affects the life in river basins, percolation & evaporation rates, ground water, the moisture holding capacity of soil and encourages water- logging, salinity & breeding of mosquitoes.

More & more use of machines leads to greater extraction of materials, cratering & gulleying the landscape, creating huge piles of waste, encouraging leaching of minerals & materials, emissions of heat & gases, effluents & chemicals polluting atmosphere, water, soil, & affecting vegetation and animal life.

The question before technological man is: in the pursuit of technology & benefits derived from its use, how far the changes described above should be allowed to proceed? These changes in energy flows & materials affect nature’s system & processes which are essential for our survival also. Should we, for our short term benefits, kill the goose that lays the golden egg? Much depends on the question how far the technology be allowed to proceed? The future of you and me, our children and grand children depends on how we handle technology today. Put your conscience to test & answer this question to the best of your abilities!


Prakash Gole